Rev. Al Sharpton’s front and center

The killing of Trayvon Martin has provided Sharpton a high-profile opportunity to portray himself as a responsible actor on the stage of race relations in America and consolidate his standing as a moderate leader in the black community.

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Sharpton reacts to Obama race remarks

Media week in review

While the death has stirred searing passions, Sharpton has not. The longtime activist has chosen to leave the inflammatory comments and conduct to others, while he employs the generally accepted tools of advocacy found in the moderate’s playbook.

Sharpton’s year-long work on the Martin saga culminates on Saturday with demonstrations planned in 100 cities across the country to push for the Department of Justice to charge George Zimmerman with violating Martin’s civil rights. The mass protests come the day after Obama made a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room to give extensive remarks about the case. Sharpton had pressed the president privately to speak out and he called Obama’s comments on the Martin case and racial issue “historic.”

The civil rights leader’s modulated behavior has caught the attention of long-time observers who say that they see, if not a new Sharpton, a Sharpton who is more comfortable than ever playing a role that, while less provocative and ostentatious, may in fact be more effective and longlasting. Another Tawana Brawley episode, the 1987 case in which the reverend advocated for an African-American teenager who was found to have falsely claimed to have been raped by a group of white men, would almost be unthinkable today, Sharpton observers say.

Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree said he’s seen an “impressive” evolution in Sharpton’s development as an activist over the past decade, reaching its pinnacle with the Martin case.

“I think what it shows is he’s smarter and wiser in picking his battles,” Ogletree, director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice at Harvard Law School, told POLITICO.

“He’s been a voice of calm by addressing a lot of the frustration that people felt with the acquittal of George Zimmerman in wanting to take matters into their own hands,” Ogletree added. “He’s made it very clear that violence is not an answer.”

That’s certainly not to say Sharpton has suddenly won over his critics. Not even close. And as the polarizing reverend’s profile has risen, once again, on the tide of one of the most divisive racial happenings in the country in years, Sharpton’s detractors have stepped up their drumbeat as well.

Former Rep. Allen West said Sharpton’s involvement in the Martin case is just the latest in the long line of his attempts to insinuate himself into stories the ex-lawmaker charged are largely manufactured by the press.

“I think he’s taking advantage of whatever a very left-wing media drives people into a frenzy over,” West told POLITICO. “That’s what he does…He is keeping himself relevant based upon the grievances and hardships of others and really capitalizing on some misguided political priorities.”

West added, “I think it’s pretty simple. I think he is not the voice of the black community, and the black community needs sincere voices that are going to stand up for the true conditions that are ailing them.”

Sharpton has been on the scene for decades — and since first appearing on the national stage, he’s been dubbed everything from an exploitative race-baiting camera-chaser to an important civil rights activist and black leader. Critics and supporters agree he has rarely missed a chance to make himself a major figure in some of the most controversial, attention-grabbing cases this country has seen over the years.

In many ways, the work he’s done in the past year regarding the Martin case has featured classic Sharpton approaches, but toned down: There’s outrage, gobs of media attention, and intense community organizing, all focused on race and civil rights. Perhaps up to the line, but not over it.

With a cable TV show, a radio program, and a national organization to his name, Sharpton, 58, says the charge that he involves himself with controversial cases like Martin’s just to seize the spotlight doesn’t ring true.

“The fact to me is that this is my life,” Sharpton told POLITICO. “The media used to say, ‘Well he’s doing this to get attention, to get established.’ Well, I have a TV show now, a radio show, every day. I don’t need attention. I’m not looking for press. I believe in this. This is my life, I lived it.”

Emerging as a leader on the Martin case, Sharpton said, shouldn’t surprise anyone.

“I’m doing what I’ve always done,” he added. “And I don’t care how cynical some in the media are, and some are not, but they will soon get it that I really believe this stuff. I don’t need this to get on TV. I’m on TV every night. I don’t need this to have access to the White House, I have that. I need it because I believe in it.”

Political analyst Earl Ofari Hutchinson, who co-hosts Sharpton’s radio show every Monday, said Sharpton’s deft handling of the Martin tragedy, along with his media and organization platforms, has made it hard for critics to “pigeonhole him as a loose cannon.”

“Sharpton has had so much shelf-life, over time,” Hutchinson said. “It goes back not years, but decades.”